instant hot water dispenser
Hey all,
At work we have a instant hot water style tap which saves times rather than having to wait for a kettle to boil.
I am looking for something similar for home.
A instant hot water tap is out of the question due to the very high cost.
there are lots of different hot water dispensers around and no idea which ones are good.
does anyone else have one of these and would be able to reccomend one?
Thanks
Re: instant hot water dispenser
Can't help I'm afraid, it's something I've always ignored due to the high-running cost and poor energy efficiency.
Urns make sense in business because of the constant use of hot water. It's more effective to heat water (although rarely to boiling) and keep it topped up with heat as it's constantly being used than boiling cold water in a kettle all the time. Plus it means people don't hang around for the kettle to boil all the time which is important to bosses not wanting people standing around not working.
I expect the cost of running one at home would be a little high. It's a lot of energy.
Re: instant hot water dispenser
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dashers
Urns make sense in business because of the constant use of hot water. It's more effective to heat water (although rarely to boiling) and keep it topped up with heat as it's constantly being used than boiling cold water in a kettle all the time. Plus it means people don't hang around for the kettle to boil all the time which is important to bosses not wanting people standing around not working.
I expect the cost of running one at home would be a little high. It's a lot of energy.
And it still less efficient than boiling a kettle from cold, it's only time you save.
OP, do you have heated water on demand? If so, you could just fill the kettle from the hot tap to save some time as you'll be starting at 60C rather than more like 15C.
Re: instant hot water dispenser
I've got a couple of suggestions:
You could by an airpot and fill it up in the morning: it'll hold heat for a few hours and it's obviously the cheapest option: to give oyu an idea here's the list of airpots at Nisbets (a proper catering supplier ;) ): http://www.nisbets.co.uk/4/Tableware...02c03c01.r12.1
Nisbets also do a couple of electric airpots - similar concept but they'll boil and hold the water temperature for you: http://www.nisbets.co.uk/4/Catering-...02c02c02.r12.1
Self fill water boilers seem to start at around £250, so a bit pricey for home use (although you can get ordinary kettles that get up towards that price depending on brand!).
I assume the ones you're thinking of otherwise are something like this: http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/househo...01281-pdt.html - in which case you probably might as well just pick a home electronics brand you like and find their version of it (personally I wouldn't recommend European Breville-branded products, but that's a personal grudge over sandwich toasters ;) ). Essentially it's just a small volume kettle with a larger reservoir (the operation will be similar to the way a coffee machine boils its water) so there's no special sauce. If you only use a kettle for making hot drinks you could probably replace a conventional kettle with one of these. Personally I wouldn't want both this and a kettle cluttering up my worktops, though...
Re: instant hot water dispenser
Most of these constant hot water boilers are for business or cafe use, for the reasons outlined by other posters. If you do want one, you might consider something like this
https://www.waterboilersdirect.com/h...bw25-white-25l
Or this
https://www.waterboilersdirect.com/l...ntertop-boiler
But both are in the hot tap price range like this one
https://www.waterboilersdirect.com/i...rome-hot-tap-2
Re: instant hot water dispenser
http://www.breville.co.uk/breakfast/...VKJ142-01.html
http://www.breville.co.uk/breakfast/...VKJ318-01.html
I see people talking about these things. the first is sometimes about £25 on amazon but has a fixed output volume, so one cup at a time, which is why it's usually cheap. the other one lets you choose how much water you want to output. I'd be inclined to try the variable one if it was about £30 but it's a lot more than that
Re: instant hot water dispenser
I have a quooker and it's probably my favouite kitchen gadget
Not cheap tho:
http://www.quooker.co.uk/enuk/home#what-is-a-quooker
Re: instant hot water dispenser
Thanks for all the responses. I am looking to save money so I would like to ask if anyone has any experience with energy efficient kettles?
I have a basic kettle atm but am willing to pay a bit more if i save money in the long run.
I am looking for the following features:
cheap to run
able to boil just one cup
quick to boil
I am always willing to pay a decent amount of something I use everyday.
Re: instant hot water dispenser
are you looking at environmental impact or saving money? If its impact the waste of drinking water involved in flushing the toilet will be worse than boiling a quarter filled kettle. Boiling a quarter filled kettle will be around 0.5p. If your really that worried drink cold brew coffee.
Re: instant hot water dispenser
Quote:
Originally Posted by
lodore
Thanks for all the responses. I am looking to save money so I would like to ask if anyone has any experience with energy efficient kettles?
I have a basic kettle atm but am willing to pay a bit more if i save money in the long run.
I am looking for the following features:
cheap to run
able to boil just one cup
quick to boil
I am always willing to pay a decent amount of something I use everyday.
In my experience energy efficient kettles take much longer to boil. But their primary energy saving is in being very well insulated (often have a cap mechanism). This barely saves any energy in the act of boiling a cup of water, but it reduces the need to reboil if you don't use the water straight away.
In short, boiling just the water you need and then using it straight away is just as efficient in a normal kettle, and likely quicker as well as being cheaper.
Re: instant hot water dispenser
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kalniel
In my experience energy efficient kettles take much longer to boil. But their primary energy saving is in being very well insulated (often have a cap mechanism). This barely saves any energy in the act of boiling a cup of water, but it reduces the need to reboil if you don't use the water straight away.
In short, boiling just the water you need and then using it straight away is just as efficient in a normal kettle, and likely quicker as well as being cheaper.
This.
It takes a finite quantity of energy to boil a given quantity of water. In fact a low wattage kettle (often and erroneously referred to as "energy efficient") may be less efficient as the heat losses may be greater as the heating time is longer.
i do have an allegedly 'energy efficient' kettle that is well insulated (it is vacuum insulated) but it was expensive and doesn't really live up to the hype. I won't quote it here as I wouldn't recommend buying one. Just boil theminimum amount of water you need.
Re: instant hot water dispenser
Thanks for all the responses. this is why I like the Hexus community. I will save my money and boil just the water i need
Re: instant hot water dispenser
Quote:
Originally Posted by
lodore
Thanks for all the responses. this is why I like the Hexus community. I will save my money and boil just the water i need
:hexlub:
Re: instant hot water dispenser
Quote:
Originally Posted by
lodore
I have a basic kettle atm but am willing to pay a bit more if i save money in the long run.
I am looking for the following features:
cheap to run
able to boil just one cup
quick to boil
Most kettles can boil one cup - you just put in the amount of water you need and only boil that. That will be your biggest saving. Obviously there is a minimum amount, so kettles with a smaller base will probably be better if you have small cups.
Cheap to run and quick boil don't really go together. Energy is required to heat the water, heating it quickly is usually less efficient than slowly.
Another question you should ask yourself is, do you need to boil your water? With coffee you don't want to boil your water, and the same with a lot of teas. You can cancel the boil early, or I have a kettle with a selectable temperature setting. I pick the suitable temperature for the drink I'm making.
Unfortunately, the most important thing in buying a kettle these days is to get one that doesn't make the water taste foul. A lot of the lubricating chemicals used in the manufacturing taint the flavour of the water for a _very_ long time after purchase.
Re: instant hot water dispenser
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dashers
Cheap to run and quick boil don't really go together. Energy is required to heat the water, heating it quickly is usually less efficient than slowly.
Are you sure? Heating is an almost 100% efficient process - energy is mostly lost as heat.. but if you're trying to heat something then it's no loss :p
I guess the losses from boiling a kettle are thermal radiation, which is a product of temperature difference and time, so cutting the boil time can actually be more efficient, and evaporation losses - which again a quicker boil can help with.
There may be some very small differences between the amount of steam generated next to the element being higher for a high wattage kettle, thus slightly increasing the evaporating loss I guess.
Re: instant hot water dispenser
We've got one of those Breville fastboil things, it gives you one cup in about 30 seconds, I think. We've had no problems with it, and we've had it for about 4 years. The only downside is it gets furred up quickly with limescale, but that's the fault of the area we live in rather than the kettle. Upside is: one cup of tea quickly. Downside: if you have visitors, you have to do x lots of 30 seconds, which is no quicker than boiling a normal kettle. The only reason we're getting rid of it is that we've got a new kitchen, and my wife's decided the colour doesn't match.
We also looked at one of those instant hot water taps (normal hot/cold tap with an extra lever for boiling) and nearly went for one, but a builder friend said he's put a lot in, and had lots of problems with them, plus you really need a water softener as well, which adds to the already massive cost.